PARDONS FOR CANNABIS POSSESSION CONVICTIONS – If the law passes, “Applications (for pardons) would be reviewed by administrative staff, and applicants would not have to pay the current application fee of $631.” The article notes interestingly that Canada’s original drug prohibition law of 1923 specifically targeted opium possession, as recreational use was a distinct feature of the immigrant Chinese culture on the west coast. Similarly in the U.S. cannabis possession and recreational use was a distinct feature of the Black and Hispanic cultures. Drug laws have always had a racial root.